FTC Examines Health Sites

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FTC Examines Health Sites

The Federal Trade Commission is investigating some health care Web sites over allegations they shared personal information collected from consumers with other companies without proper warnings, industry officials said on Friday.

The probe follows a report by the California HealthCare Foundation blasting online health-care sites for sharing personal information given by consumers with third parties despite promises that no data would be shared.

"We understand several sites have been contacted [by the FTC]," said an executive at one of the Web sites, who declined to be named.

Health-care sites collect among the most sensitive and personal information, including data on diseases and medical conditions, insurance coverage and prescription drug usage.

The foundation's report, released on 1 February, was followed by a letter from top Democrats in the House of Representatives to the FTC demanding that the agency conduct an investigation.

The foundation study surveyed the information gathering practices and notices about those practices at 21 Web sites. "At best, the privacy policies of health Web sites are confusing, inconsistent, weak, and often misleading when measured against the sites' actual practices," the report concluded.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that HealthCentral.com of Emeryville, California, and iVillage.com, the woman-focused New York Web site, had been contacted by the FTC. The companies, both criticized in the foundation's survey, could not be reached immediately for comment.

Leading Internet advertising firm DoubleClick Inc. earlier this week disclosed that it had received a letter from the FTC inquiring about its data collection practices.

The firm was also named in the foundation's study of health-care sites because DoubleClick places ads on some of the sites and has the ability to track what pages visitors view. But company officials have said no personal data relating to health issues is ever shared with third parties.

Another leading health Web site, drkoop.com, set up by former Surgeon General Everett Koop, was also criticized in the report but has not been contacted by the agency, the company's chief operating officer said late on Thursday.

Richard Cleland, an FTC official leading the review, told the Journal that the agency was concerned that health companies might not be holding to promises to consumers about the way they handled personal data.